"58% oppose coalition; 45% support Conservatives"

That should have been the Globe and Mail's headline. Instead, this is what they ran (p. A6):

Majority prefers keeping Conservative government

Poll shows Tories up from election in party standings, but at a cost of increased tensions between Quebec and the rest of the country [more on Quebec here]

Stephen Harper steered his Conservative Party to strong gains in national support during this week's unprecedented political crisis, but he sustained severe losses in Quebec and does not enjoy the trust of almost half of Canadians, a new poll shows.

The Strategic Counsel poll done for The Globe and Mail suggests a majority of Canadians preferred keeping a Conservative government over getting a new Liberal-NDP coalition with Bloc Québécois support.

While Mr. Harper had overall support for his decision to shut down Parliament on Thursday, the poll also shows that Canadians have real worries about the future.

Slightly more than half of respondents (55 per cent) feel that Canada is on the wrong track, and only 33 per cent feel that the country is on the right track...

Dizzy with spin, I say. Compare with what the Ottawa Citizen ran as the front-page lead:

Majority of Canadians want Harper to lead nation: poll

PM emerges from crisis riding huge wave of support as the leader for uncertain times

Hmmm.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at December 5, 2008 06:38 PM